Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations?
Research has dealt extensively with different aspects of climate change and winter tourism such as the impact on ski resorts and ski lift operators, adaptation strategies, governance at destinations and reactions of winter sports guests to changing snow conditions. This paper goes deeper into the qu...
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2019-08-01
|
Series: | Sustainability |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4233 |
id |
doaj-2b044cffdd724e9690778a93a4955477 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-2b044cffdd724e9690778a93a49554772020-11-25T01:39:58ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502019-08-011115423310.3390/su11154233su11154233Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations?Thomas Bausch0Andreas Humpe1Stefan Gössling2Competence Centre Tourism and Mobility, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39031 Bruneck-Brunico, ItalyDepartment of Tourism, Munich University of Applied Sciences, 80636 Munich, GermanySchool of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, 391 82 Kalmar, SwedenResearch has dealt extensively with different aspects of climate change and winter tourism such as the impact on ski resorts and ski lift operators, adaptation strategies, governance at destinations and reactions of winter sports guests to changing snow conditions. This paper goes deeper into the question of destination choice and examines the role of climate change among the many factors affecting guest loyalty at Alpine winter destinations. The study uses an established destination choice model with choice sets, destination image and dynamic feedback loop. A qualitative online forum identifies factors influencing winter destination choice, followed by a quantitative survey which compares Alpine winter holidaymakers categorised as “loyal”, “disloyal” and “undecided”. The results demonstrate that climate change clearly influences destination choice, but snow sports are not the only affected attractors. Enjoyment of the natural environment and value for money are just as high on the list of guest motivators. This indicates that climate change adaptation measures such as snowmaking can be counterproductive to guest loyalty because they spoil the natural scenery and raise prices. The paper concludes with a recommendation for winter destinations to prioritize conservation of the natural environment and integrate more environmental protection measures into their management strategies.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4233climate changedestination choicedestination loyaltywinter tourismski resortsclimate adaptationAlpine tourism |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Thomas Bausch Andreas Humpe Stefan Gössling |
spellingShingle |
Thomas Bausch Andreas Humpe Stefan Gössling Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations? Sustainability climate change destination choice destination loyalty winter tourism ski resorts climate adaptation Alpine tourism |
author_facet |
Thomas Bausch Andreas Humpe Stefan Gössling |
author_sort |
Thomas Bausch |
title |
Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations? |
title_short |
Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations? |
title_full |
Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations? |
title_fullStr |
Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Does Climate Change Influence Guest Loyalty at Alpine Winter Destinations? |
title_sort |
does climate change influence guest loyalty at alpine winter destinations? |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2019-08-01 |
description |
Research has dealt extensively with different aspects of climate change and winter tourism such as the impact on ski resorts and ski lift operators, adaptation strategies, governance at destinations and reactions of winter sports guests to changing snow conditions. This paper goes deeper into the question of destination choice and examines the role of climate change among the many factors affecting guest loyalty at Alpine winter destinations. The study uses an established destination choice model with choice sets, destination image and dynamic feedback loop. A qualitative online forum identifies factors influencing winter destination choice, followed by a quantitative survey which compares Alpine winter holidaymakers categorised as “loyal”, “disloyal” and “undecided”. The results demonstrate that climate change clearly influences destination choice, but snow sports are not the only affected attractors. Enjoyment of the natural environment and value for money are just as high on the list of guest motivators. This indicates that climate change adaptation measures such as snowmaking can be counterproductive to guest loyalty because they spoil the natural scenery and raise prices. The paper concludes with a recommendation for winter destinations to prioritize conservation of the natural environment and integrate more environmental protection measures into their management strategies. |
topic |
climate change destination choice destination loyalty winter tourism ski resorts climate adaptation Alpine tourism |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4233 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT thomasbausch doesclimatechangeinfluenceguestloyaltyatalpinewinterdestinations AT andreashumpe doesclimatechangeinfluenceguestloyaltyatalpinewinterdestinations AT stefangossling doesclimatechangeinfluenceguestloyaltyatalpinewinterdestinations |
_version_ |
1725048084241580032 |